Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electromagnetic relays and, more specifically, electromagnetic relays having a narrow, elongated base body with fixed contact carriers embedded in the base body that are cut from a common plate of sheet metal. The present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such a relay.
Relays having a narrow structure of this type are disclosed for example in DE 38 29 035 C2 and DE 38 35 105 C2. The anchoring of the contact carriers in a single row and the position of the connecting lugs in a single sheet-metal plane result in advantageous production because the partially cut-free contact carrier elements which are still connected to the plate enable easy handling in the production run and accurate positioning in the base body. In the case of the known relay structure, the contact-making sections of the contact carriers are arranged together with an armature underneath a coil winding with a toroidal iron core, the actuation direction being effected transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the relay structure. Insulation between the magnetic system and load circuit is problematic, however, due to the interlacing of armature and contact springs. High currents cannot be switched by this system on account of the excessively small insulating clearances. In addition, a changeover contact can be realized only with difficulty in the case of this structure; at least such a changeover contact would manifest itself at the expense of the narrow structure, given said actuation direction.
DE 34 14 731 A1 has also already disclosed a basic structure of a relay in which a magnetic system and a contact arrangement are arranged one after the other in the longitudinal direction of the relay, the contact arrangement being actuated by means of a slide which can be moved parallel to the longitudinal axis of the relay. However, a narrow structure is not intended in that case, since two sets of contacts are arranged next to one another transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the relay. Although the contact carriers are embedded in the base body of the relay, the flat connecting lugs each lie in planes transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the relay, with the result that processing-from a plate is in that case neither striven for nor would it actually be implementable.